My Heart's Been Shattered
by Wandering-Recluse
Summary: Erik comes back and takes Christine, just a little drabble of that and Raoul's thoughts on it. ExC though hinted RxC. Raoul isn't a bad guy guys! NO RAOUL BASHING! Please R&R. Leroux based! Two chapters, no more, no less! COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**Sorry to all of you who have been waiting for me to update my other fics. I promise, I'm trying.**

**Anyway, this is something I've been working on for a while. I think that Raoul gets bashed way to much. I mean, I'm a die hard ExC shipper-don't get me wrong. But seriously, Raoul is not a fop, drunk or abuser. I think that whatever Christine had chose to do on her own he would have supported. So I wrote a fic dedicated to that. Everyone will be happy with this one! Erik gets Christine, and Raoul doesn't get bashed!**

**Anyway, this is not a long story, it will only have two chapters. But hopefully everyone likes it! Please, please review! Your reviews make my day! Seriously!**

**POTO (c) Gaston Leroux  
**

Raoul de Chagny looked at the envelope in front of him. For the first time in months he felt...hope. These past months had drained Raoul's energy and will to live. His beloved Christine had gone back to that murderer and Raoul had no idea what to do. He only wanted the best for Christine. If it had been anyone else, _anyone _he would have given her up for her happiness. But could that man guarantee her happiness, safety and security? For God's sake, he lived in the basement of an opera house! Surely that could not be healthy for a delicate young woman!

God, why? Why did you take away my one true love? He asked silently into the starry sky outside of his window. He had-and still did- love Christine, but people did not believe him. They said that it was a childhood romance that would only bring misery to both participants. But he had to disagree.

He could no longer see the faces of women anymore. All he could see was his beloved Christine. He slowly opened the envelope that was on his desk.

After reading the first line he felt his heart shatter and disappear.

_Dear Raoul_

_I am truly sorry for all that I have done to you my dear friend. It was not my intention to hurt you. But Raoul I do not think that it would be beneficial for either of us for me to keep regretting the past. I wish I could bring the happiness you so desperately deserve. What I have done to you was a truly despicable thing. I realize that I have destroyed your happiness and I can only hope we can remain friends, like in the house by the sea. I have found my Angel of Music Raoul, I just ask that you accept that and leave Erik in peace. We are happy, and I wish that someday you can experience that happiness as well. I no longer reside with Erik in the bottom of the opera house, Erik thought it would be a danger to my health. Please Raoul, live your life and forget about me. I will always be Little Lotte and I do not want you to think otherwise._

_All my love_

_Christine_

Raoul stared at the letter in shock for a few moments. He was glad to see that..._Erik... _cared about Christine's health.

_Who am I kidding? _He asked himself _he has always been the one to know her best. _He felt a sharp pang in his heart as he realized this. Looking back he wondered how he could have ignored the love for that man in Christine's eyes. He had been in denial. He loved her so much and he wanted to be loved back. But he also wanted Christine to be the happiest girl in Paris. _Even if it could not be with him._

Raoul sighed and thought back to the moment where his heart had been broken, to where _he _ had come back for her.

_It had been a normal day for Raoul and Christine, or as normal as things got for them now. It had been three weeks after the fateful night of Don Juan. Christine was a shell of her former self. He was incredibly thin and always had dark circles under her eyes. Whenever Raoul asked what was wrong she would give him a brief smile and reply that it was nothing. _

_But Raoul was worried, his fiancée was wasting away before his eyes and he was powerless to stop it. He felt such regret for letting her fall like this that for the first time in his life he wanted to hurt somebody. He eventually had to force her to eat or else she would not be able to get food into her stomach. Raoul was contemplating sending her to a doctor to see if she could get medical help._

_They had been sitting in the library, reading books when their butler, James came into the room. His face was pale and he was trembling. He didn't even have enough time to announce their guest before passing out cold._

_After leaving James in Christine's capable hands Raoul went to see what had bothered James. He thought that it was perhaps, a rather large spider or one of the children from across the estate playing a trick on him. But he knew that his luck was not that well off._

_He let out a gasp as the very thing that had frightened James filled the doorway. The man's amber gaze burned into Raoul with a cold fire, he was very tall but extremely skinny. His preferred wardrobe contained all black. His skin (or what people could see of it) was a pale white that clashed with his raven coloured hair. But the thing that was the most noticeable about this man was the mask that took up the whole of his face._

_It was white and most likely made of porcelain. No one had dared to touch it to check. Christine was the only person to have seen under his mask and come out almost completely unharmed. Well, physically at least. Her mental state was quite unstable for a time afterwards. _

_Raoul looked at the man with horror and felt his stomach clench in fear._

"_Erik." He whispered._

_Erik walked into the room with unearthly grace that only Erik could manage. He barely paid Raoul the respect of a glance and walked straight over to Christine._

_She drew back in fear at first. But did not speak. She was sitting on the floor with James's head in her lap._

_Erik reached down and stroked her throat with loving attention and Christine felt chills go up her back at the contact. Whether it was fear or something else she did not know._

_After a moment of doing that Erik pulled his hand back. But he did not say a word. He stood there, mesmerized by Christine. Finally she worked up the nerve to say something._

"_You're dead." Were the words that came out of her mouth. Erik seemed to wince slightly at them. "I saw it in the newspaper. It said "Erik is dead." And it had to be you!" _

_These words were said more like a charm against evil than a real fact. She had desperately to believe that he was dead so that her relationship with Raoul would not suffer. If Erik was dead it would be easiest to mourn for him and go on to marry Raoul as he had told them to do._

_But now he was back. And he was very much alive._

_Christine did not know what had scared her more. The fact that he was said to be dead or him by himself. _

_Raoul read the fear on Christine's face and felt enraged that this man was scaring her. He was about to tell him to get out when Erik started singing. Softly at first but it was getting louder._

_Both of the occupants in the room were enchanted by the voice. Raoul had never heard him sing before and fell completely under his spell. Christine had heard him sing many times and had a slight resistance to it. But she eventually succumbed to the beauty. _

_Erik looked at the boy with contempt while he sang. Even Christine gave up more of a fight than that! How could he succumb to him that easily? Really, if he wanted to survive against Erik then he would need to learn to how resist his voice!_

_He sighed then looked at Christine. She had obviously been troubled when he walked in. The circles under her eyes, the weight loss. The glazed look in her eyes._

_He had been following her for about two weeks now. It had taken a week for him to gather his sanity-or what was left of it and clean his house. _

_In a fit of rage after Christine left him he destroyed everything except the Philippe Louis room. Then when he realized that he could no longer function without seeing Christine he began watching her again without her knowing._

_He watched with a sick feeling in his heart as she began to waste away. For the first week he had convinced himself that she would get better in a few days and that she would be happy with the boy as he had wanted. But by the end of the second week she was worse and he could no longer bear it._

_Then he had come to the realization that perhaps, it was him that was causing her worry and grief. Perhaps she was afraid that he would try to take her away from her beloved Vicomte. So he came up with a plan._

_He went and asked for his former friend-the Daroga's help in the matter. He could not walk into a public place after all. He was the Phantom of the Opera._

_He put three words in the Paris newspaper to settle Christine's mind. Erik is dead. _

_This could have been counted as true. He was dead to Christine. That was his thought anyway. Sometimes though, when he was in her room at night (she did not share one with the boy. If they had consummated yet he would have killed them both.) he could have sworn that he heard her whispering his name. Or calling for an angel._

_He knew he had heard wrong though, she loved the boy and not him. The vicomte was the one at the altar, not the Phantom._

_But, after she saw the newspaper article, her already fragile health began to slowly decline. She was going to die, Raoul refused to believe it but Erik knew it for a fact. And he needed to stop it._

_But that would include confronting her...but her life was more important than the pretence that he was dead._

_He finally decided that he would pay a visit to her at the end of the week. If she went into cardiac arrest after seeing him he would really kill himself this time. Then he would hope that the boy would force her to live and she could forget about him. If she didn't and seemed to want him...he would figure it out as he went along._

_So he went the house and almost upon instinct started singing to calm her down. He had not wanted to hypnotize the boy as well but it was quite unavoidable. He then realized that he could use this to his advantage. _

_He kneeled down in front of her once again and asked her_

"_Christine, are you happy here?"_

_She snapped out of her trance like state immediately. Since Erik was not quite ready to release Raoul he kept him under the trance. He did not want him interfering with this conversation. This was the conversation where everything would be reviled and put on the table._

_Christine looked up at him and blinked._

"_I don't know. I want to love Raoul and in a way I do." She began. Erik felt a hot rage boiling within him as she admitted to loving the boy. He had been expecting it of course, but it cut him deep still._

_Christine heard his intake of breath and looked up at him sympathetically. She had been thinking the past three weeks. She did love Raoul, in a brotherly way. One kind of love that would never die, but would never truly become the roaring fire she felt with Erik. She could not love Erik completely until he opened up to her and maybe, showed his love, not as an obsession but as a relationship between two people. Then she could truly love him._

"_But, I feel about him as I would feel as a brother, not a lover." She continued and Erik felt for once in his miserable life, hope. What was she telling him? Was she trying to say something? He felt a shiver run up his back at what implications she might have suggested. Or...it could have been his imagination and he was getting excited over nothing._

"_Christine." He asked softly, still with the entrancing tone in his voice. Imploring her to tell the truth. "What are you implying?"_

_She looked down with unmistakable sorrow and Erik felt his heart fall. _

_Of course she wasn't implying anything he berated himself. He continued to do this for several minutes. Then Christine got up the courage to tell him what she was thinking._

"_Erik...I think that I love you more than Raoul. I also think that we should give this one more try. For both our sakes. We never really tried before and if it doesn't work out we'll know and be better off than before, always wondering 'what if' and not knowing." She explained. He felt his heart leap with joy and anticipation. She had chosen him over the boy! For now at least. He was afraid that if he took her and it did not work out for her that he would never be able to let her go. He knew that he would never grow tired of her, never. She was his Angel of Music._

_All the implications of this agreement came crashing down on him. He felt like staggering under the weight but know that if he wanted to he could hold it._

_Then he realized that there was so much to arrange, not to mention the fact that it might not work out at all._

_But first he wanted to have a little fun..._

_He slowly turned away from Christine and walked over to Raoul who was still standing where they had left him. He had a slightly glazed look in his eyes and Erik knew that he would have a lot of fun when he woke the boy up._

_He stepped behind him on the right side and used his voice technique of ventriloquism to speak into the boy's left ear. He woke up with a start. He looked over his left shoulder and saw no one there. He shivered in fear and remembered that Erik was somewhere around here. Or was he...? Had he taken Christine against her will again? He looked over and exhaled in relief. Christine was standing about three feet in front of him. And he noticed for the first time that she was smiling. He felt his heart leap at the sight. When she smiled he remembered why he had fallen in love with her all those years ago._

_But she didn't seem to be smiling at him, rather at something behind him. Something over his shoulder._

_He felt a tingle of fear throughout his limbs. He now knew who-or what was behind him._

_He turned around and planned to confront the man that was behind him. But he let out a gasp of surprise as he realized that Erik was not there. Then he heard a voice from behind him._

"_Are you looking for someone M. Le Vicomte?" Erik asked quietly. Raoul whirled around in surprise and sure enough the man dressed in black was there._

_Erik took an intimidating step towards him and he stepped back. Raoul looked around nervously to see if there was an exit to get Christine out of the room. He would face this...man...alone._

_Erik was blocking the only exit, the windows were too small for even Christine to get out through. Raoul felt an acute sense of panic close in on his chest. He had already dismissed all the servants for the night, all except James._

_Erik gave a low, frightening chuckle that frightened Raoul more than anything. He backed up and put his arm up to protect Christine. He looked back and was surprised to see her glaring in an amused manner at the masked man._

_What was she thinking? She was encouraging him! Raoul wondered if he had somehow hypnotized her with his voice. It had happened with him and who said that he wouldn't do it with Christine?_

_He looked at her and she looked back at him with pity and happiness in her eyes. It was the first time he had seen happiness in those eyes for a very long time._

_His heart sank as he anticipated what he was going to hear. He knew, he always had. He loved her in the real love type way but he knew that she thought of him as more of a brother. He thought that when he took her away from that man that she would learn to love him. But, he knew the truth all along._

_Christine pushed past his arm and went and stood by Erik. She looked at him in a way he knew that it was all over. _

"_Raoul..." She said, for once at loss for words. Erik gladly took over for her._

"_She is Erik's now. She will be leaving with him and you will not interfere. Understood M. Le Vicomte? If you do not Erik could gladly explain it in simpler terms for you. She loves Erik and Erik loves her as well." He said with a satisfied look in his eyes. That was the only way to tell how Erik was feeling really. Through his eyes. And at the moment they were shining as bright as the stars and were staring at Christine in a way that she did not have to look up at him to know that he was looking at her. She could feel his gaze burning into her. He took her hand and started to tow her away. But she stopped and looked at Raoul. _

"_I'm sorry Raoul. I will write soon." Is what she said as she left. Raoul watched them go, then when he was sure that they were gone he finally wept. _

_Wept for all that had been and could be. Wept for his love who could never love him back and he wept for Christine who had to make such a hard choice without having any help. Then, when there were no more tears to shed he felt empty._

_James woke up a few hours later. But he did not enquire where the mistress of the house was. He already knew._

Now, after he received the letter he felt more empty than ever. He looked towards the liquor cabinet. No, he decided he would not become an alcoholic jerk like so many of his friends. He would be different_. _But there was one thing he still had to do. He rang the bell to call James.

"James, I want to find them."

**So, I hope you enjoyed that little idea. I promise that I will get the second (and last) chapter up as soon as I can.**

**Wandering Recluse  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ah, the last chapter. I want to thank all the people who've read this story. And I forgot to mention this during the last chapter, this story is dedicated to My friends, Reagan (always for you, don't forget it mon ami.), Lauren, Susan and Casey. You've all supported me throughout all my stories and I am immensely grateful. I also want to thank all of my reviewers, you have no idea how much your reviews light up my day. I swear, one review can get me through two math periods! With that in mind please review! And once again, I hope you enjoy this chapter and this I shall try to overcome my writers block.**

**POTO (c) Gaston Leroux  
**

Chapter 2

_**Five years later....**_

Raoul de Chagny looked up at the policeman that was leading the search for Christine. It was a two man operation now. After five years most people had given up. There had been clues from time to time but no solid proof. But Raoul refused to give up hope. He would find Christine again someday.

It had been at least a year last saw this man. The last time was when someone thought they saw someone fitting the description of Christine in Rouen. The clue had led to a dead end

The masked man and Christine had virtually disappeared from the earth. For the first year the search had been vigorous and had everyone looking. But after that they all gave up and said that if Christine had been taken by the Opera Ghost then she would most likely be dead by now.

But Raoul refused to believe that. As much as that maniac could hurt other people he would not dare harm Christine.

Now, there the man was in front of him once again. And this time he knew where they were.

"Excuse me M. Le Comte. But I have found them." The man (whose name is Jacques) said to Raoul. Raoul felt his heart skip a beat as he heard this news. They had found Christine at last! After five long years he had found the only person he had ever loved.

Over the past five years he had had many mistresses of course. But he could not truly love any of them. His heart belonged with Christine, wherever she was.

But now he would know. And he would see her too.

"Tell me." Raoul demanded. When the man uttered these words his breath had hitched and his heart had skipped a beat.

"One week ago one of my men was patrolling the villages around Rouen. There have been rumours of a special sickness down that way and he went to go see if these rumours were true-they were not of course- and when he was patrolling a down named de Boscherville and he heard rumours of a masked devil and his wife. Matthew of course went to see if this was a part of the rumoured illness. The man who opened the door fit the description exactly of the man who seemed to have kidnapped your Fiancée. He came back immediately and reported this to me." Jacques reported.

Raoul stood up and called James into the room. The butler came immediately and ordered Raoul's carriage.

He had left immediately. It would take a good day and a half ride to get to the town. He stared out the window as he waited but did not see the beautiful Parisian landscape. His thoughts were consumed by Christine.

What would she be like after 5 years? Was she happy? Did she go with that man willingly? There were so many questions that were pounding in his head that he had wondered about for five long years. Now he would have a chance to get answers.

The ride was quite comfortable, as expected of a count's carriage. It had taken Raoul a few years to properly take his brother's formal title after he had drowned in the lake underneath the opera house. Many say that Erik killed him but he denied it, saying that he had drowned. Raoul had no idea why but for once he believed the man.

As they grew closer to Boscherville Raoul began to feel more and more anxious. Would that man try to harm him for coming to find Christine? Would he kill him? Raoul had chosen to visit unaccompanied by his police escort. He wanted to face Christine alone with no interruptions.

They rode for the full 36 hours without break. He was too anxious to stop and think. It was dusk when they reached Boscherville. At first he reservations about going and seeing her that evening but knew that he might run and never come back if he did not.

He walked from the inn he had managed to find within town-the only inn within a fifty mile radius of the town itself. He tried not to walk to quickly but the town was very small and it was not long before he arrived at said house.

He knocked on the door to the house and waited for the door to be opened. He held his breath as he saw swing open.

Erik stood in the door as menacing as always. Wearing black and the same white mask that he had been last seen in by Raoul.

"What do you want?" He barked when both overcame their initial shock. Raoul mentally shook himself from his stupor.

"I need to talk to Christine." He replied glaring at the masked man.

"No." Erik went to close the door but found that he was incapable of doing so with Raoul's foot jammed in the door.

"No, I can promise you that I will not leave until I see Christine." Raoul said adamantly. Erik looked as though he were about to strangle Raoul, or something to that extent when they heard a voice from the house.

"Erik? What are you doing? Who's at the door?" Raoul felt immense relief when he heard Christine's voice.

"Christine, please let me in." Raoul pleaded trying to get around Erik.

Christine stood frozen for a moment, stunned by the fact that Raoul had found her. Then saw that Erik was blocking his entry.

"Erik, let him in." She said with a stern voice. Erik reluctantly let Raoul pass but not before whispering so only Raoul could hear,

"If you touch her, Erik will not hesitate to cut your fingers off. You try to take her away from Erik and you will find yourself at the gates of hell. She is Erik's and you will not forget that." Raoul suppressed a shudder at these words.

Christine silently led him through the halls of their house and into the study. She sat him in a chair opposite to the one she would be sitting in.

"I'm sorry for Erik's behaviour. I honestly thought he was getting better but I suppose that you bring back too many bad memories for him. Would you like something to drink? Tea? I'm sure we have some brandy around here somewhere." Christine asked. Raoul looked bewildered at her offer.

"I understand..no thank you I ate at the inn before I came." He said in response to both statements.

They sat in an awkward silence for a moment, Christine knew that Erik would be waiting outside the study door listening in on the conversation. Or he would be...no, he would be outside the study door.

Christine sighed and Raoul jumped about a foot in his chair.

'I guess you're wondering what happened after we left your house right?" She asked with a sad smile. Raoul nodded his head in agreement.

"Well, I'm not going to tell you everything, that would take far too long. But I suppose I can give you the shorter version." She warned Raoul just gave her a look that clearly said _Get on with it!_

"Well, after we left we went back down to the fifth cellar. We tried to sort out our differences and such. We managed to let go of the past after a while and start a future together. The I started to get sick and Erik realized that it was from the lake and the dampness around his home. At first he was at loss of what to do. Then he remembered a place that he could go. But first we stayed at the Persian's place for awhile. He helped Erik find this house and reclaim it. Then, about a month after we started our relationship Erik, in his own awkward way proposed to me. He took me out under the stars and asked me if I loved him. I told him that I did and he must have asked me that five or six times before placing a ring on my finger and saying that if I could share a life with a monster, he would like to be that monster. And that I would always be his. It took a moment for me to understand what he was saying then, when I did realize it I hugged him tight and told him I accepted his proposal. And then he said-I will quote him- "Christine, there is no other woman besides you. You are an angel that Erik does not deserve. If you had said no...Erik would have let you go, but he would never, never leave you. He could never be strong enough for that." About a month after that we had our wedding. It was small and had two paid witnesses. But that was enough for me. That night...well we consummated the marriage and the next morning Erik took me to Italy. We had the most wonderful trip. We were gone for three months. But after that I started to get sick again. I was getting morning sickness, tired all the time and it seemed I was perpetually hungry. I found out later..." Suddenly the study door creaked open and Raoul's attention, as well as Christine's was diverted to the little boy who entered the room.

He had raven coloured hair and glowing gold eyes. His skin was pale. On the side of his neck he had a large scar that ran along the side of it. The scar wasn't very wide but plenty long. It was not one caused by an accident but by birth. Raoul could tell that much. He looked as though he was around four years of age. There was no mistaking who his parents were.

"Mama! Papa said that he was going to teach me to play the organ!" The little boy cried joyfully as he flung himself into his mother's lap.

Christine stroked the boy's hair for a moment before saying to him

"Angelo, we have a guest. I would like you to greet M. Le Vicomte Raoul de Chagny properly."

Raoul cleared his throat.

"Actually, it's count now. I took over Philippe's title years ago. After his death." He said awkwardly.

The boy looked him up and down and said shyly

"Bonjour M. De Chagny." Raoul noticed that they boy's voice sounded slightly like Erik's and that when he grew up it would be just as seductive and menacing.

"Bonjour Angelo. I see your name fits you well." Raoul said, he liked this boy. He was Christine's son and so he would be treated with the respect and admiration he deserved.

The boy blushed and backed out of the room, running back to his father no doubt.

Christine sighed happily as she watched the boy run out, closing the door behind him.

"Anyway, after we found out that I was with child Erik started acting cold to me. I was shocked and hurt. I thought that he no longer loved me. I was packed and ready to return to you when he found me. I'm sorry Raoul, I knew that you would have taken me in and I took advantage of that. I wanted to be cared for...to be_ loved_. When he found me he started to panic. He asked me if I loved him and I told him that I loved him. He obviously didn't love me enough to care about our child. He wept then Raoul...oh he uttered such soul wrenching sobs! I held him and comforted him. Then he told me his fears, He was so scared that our child would turn out like him. I told him that we would still love him no matter what. We would take care of the child together. He told me he knew that I would love the child. He was frightened that if anything did happen to the child that it would blame him for anything that happened to him. He didn't want the child to have a life like his. It took me a very long while to finally get him to listen to me. Even after that he was still nervous. Then, when I finally gave birth and he saw the scar he was devastated. He blamed himself and for a while it seemed as though he was going to die, or more precisely commit suicide. It took a good year before he came to see our son as he really is-perfect. The scar is not as prominent now as it was back then. Erik, doesn't exactly know how to deal with kids and that was a problem for a while. But then he reached out to his son in the only way he knew how-music. After a while they began to do other things and began to mold to fit each other perfectly. Because of Erik, Angelo is almost smarter than myself. Now, I believe that I almost feel jealous of their relationship. I cannot say that this has been easy-or that Erik and I have the perfect marriage. He has too many insecurities for that. But it had been more than I could have ever hoped for." She said after the interruption had left.

For the first time in his life Raoul felt jealous of someone. Erik had everything that Raoul ever wanted. A son, independence, power, intelligence and...Christine.

"So, Raoul, what have you been doing since I left? Have you found love again?" Christine asked concerned for her old friend. She knew that she had scarred him for life when she left. But one could hope that he had found what Erik was to her, right?

Raoul looked down, feeling slightly awkward.

"I haven't been doing much, helping the family, my sisters, aunt and so on. I've taken over my brother's position in almost everything. As for my love life...I have to admit that it's not much for now. It never really has been there at all I suppose. I have bad luck when it comes to love." He replied sadly. Then a saying he had once herd found its way into his mind. _We cannot chose where we will love. _

Raoul found this absolutely true. He had loved Christine, it had happened and he could not come to regret it for the world.

Christine sighed than said

"You may come in now Erik." Raoul was shocked at this statement. She had not raised her voice as she said this and he saw the door creak open immediately after she said this.

The first thing he saw was Erik's golden eyes looking slightly ashamed. Whether he was caught or that he was doing it in the first place Raoul did not know.

He looked at Raoul and growled menacingly. Christine gave him a stern look. He stopped growling but continued glaring.

"Erik. Raoul is not here to take me away. He came to see how I was. He was worried about me. It has been five years already. He deserved to know everything." Christine explained. Then she turned to Raoul and asked brightly

"So, have you planned your leave yet? If you would like, you are more than welcome to stay with us." Raoul looked at her bewildered.

"No!" Erik yelled harshly. "He will not be staying in Erik's house. He will take Christine and Angelo and never come back. He is never welcome here, never!"

"I think that I'll stay at my inn, thank you very much. I plan to leave on the morrow. " Raoul said trying to stop an unpleasant argument that he knew he would get blamed for later.

Christine uttered an exaggerated sigh.

"Alright, but first I will introduce you to my best friend Susan, she is quite like Meg, Raoul! Come, you must meet her!" She said excitedly pulling Raoul towards the door. He looked back and saw Erik staring at his wife with an intense look that radiated of love. It could not be mistaken about how much he loved his wife...

**One year later....**

"Uncle Raoul!" Angelo shouted as he ran towards his surrogate uncle. As much as Erik tried to purge him of calling him that name Angelo adored Raoul and would not let it go. This annoyed Erik beyond belief and made Raoul very smug.

Much had changed in the past year. Raoul had finally gotten married and was expecting his first child. He was married to Christine's best friend, Susan. It had been love at first sight.

Erik and Christine were happy and agreed that Angelo would be their only child. They did not want to worry about having a child with Erik's deformity. Or that was Erik's fear. Christine said it did not matter either way and was content with one child.

But, as always things were not perfect. At the odd time Erik seemed to tire of Raoul and almost strangle him. There had been many close calls, but no permanent damage. They were not..._friends _per say but they had a very odd sort of relationship where one would never know when the other would lose patience and kill him.

But for now, things were perfect. Shattered hearts were being mended and new loves beginning....

**Fin**

**So, what did you think of that ending? I hope you enjoyed it. I tried to make it a happy one. Au revoir to all those readers out there and once again I thank you.**


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